Coup d'tat is French meaning 'a blow to the state'. Under laws of almost all the countries, it is considered a most serious crime. English law is the major basis of our laws, and as a nation we have adopted English ways and traditions like the English language, English sport of cricket, a military professionally trained to English standards, heads of state functioning in the English Viceroy style and a system of economic and administrative governance same as it was when we were an English colony. England has remained a free of military coups through out its history except for the dictatorial rule of Oliver Cromwell who had overthrown King Charles I and ordered his beheading. English parliament did not let the coup makers go unpunished and set a fearful example. In 1660, once the monarchy had been restored under Charles II, the Parliament ordered the posthumous execution of the coup makers. Westminster Abbey was searched and three bodies, said to be those of John Bradshaw, Henry Ireton and Oliver Cromwell, were exhumed. These corpses were hanged at Tyburn and decapitated on January 30, 1661. The three heads were displayed on poles high above the Westminster Hall. -ABDUL MAJID GHORI, Islamabad, via e-mail, June 6.